=378. Conduct of the Administration.=—Senator Benton was probably right when he claimed, in his _Thirty Years’ View_, that there never was a less warlike administration than that of Polk. Polk was thoroughly upright and pious, but was scarcely broad-minded. He took his seat with the intention of carrying out a programme the main feature of which was the acquisition of California. This programme he carried out to the letter, partly because it was a popular one, partly because he had considerable administrative skill. Owing in the main to the discretion of Great Britain, war was averted with that power (§ 376), and Polk could point to a very valuable addition of territory in the extreme Northwest, into which population was already pouring. Tyler had forestalled him with regard to annexing Texas; but Polk could at least see to it that Texas reached the Rio Grande, and that the United States thus recovered territory which some persons believed to have been imprudently abandoned by Monroe in his negotiations with Spain (§ 324). Yet to extend the bounds of Texas and, what was more important, to acquire Upper California, would necessitate a war with Mexico, and for this Polk and his well-chosen Cabinet were prepared. They wanted only a short war, however, and trusted to diplomacy and money to secure them the territory that would give the United States a clear sweep to the Pacific. Hence much of Polk’s warlike attitude was hollow. His main purpose was to obtain money from Congress with which to buy territory, and by diplomatic means to induce Mexico to sell. He actually restored to his native land the exiled Mexican general, Santa Anna, hoping that the latter would, in gratitude, make a speedy peace. But the sly adventurer induced his countrymen to fight the harder; and although California and New Mexico were taken by the Americans without a real struggle, peace with Mexico, and her acquiescence in the results of the war, could be obtained only after long and costly campaigns. Moreover, these campaigns entailed a political result discouraging to Polk and the Democrats.